Thrust-bearing.



W. E. MOORE.

THRUST BEARING. APPLICAfION FILED APR. 25, I913.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

Patented Feb. 29, 1916.

wi/lime'ooeo W. E. MOORE.

THRUST BEARING.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 25. 19:3.

1, 173,369, Patented Feb. 29, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- WILLIAM E. MOOE, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

THRUST-BEARING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

lPatentedFeb. 29,1916.

Application filed April 25, 1918. Serial. No. 763,624.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM E. Moore, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inThrust-Bearings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to improved means forefi'ecting lubrication of friction surfaces subject to great pressuresuch, for example, as thrust bearings, and the object of the saidinvention is to provide improved means for eflecting this lubricationautomatically.

In order to more fully describe my said invention, reference will be hadto the accompanying drawings wherein, V

Figure l, is a central vertical section of a bearing embodying one formof my invention; Fig. 2, a fragmentary section on line 2 2 Fig. 1,looking in the direction of the arrows, with the oil removed; Fig. 3, afragmentary detail vertical section on line 3 3* Fig. 2, looking in thedirection of the arrows; Fig. 4, a detail fragmentary perspective viewof a segmental washer; Fig. 5, a fragmentary detail section showingconnection between washer and thrust collar; Fig. 6, a fragmentary topplan view, with portions removed, showing a modified form of saidwasher; Fig. 7, a fragmentary detail vertical cross section of thesegments of the washer shown. in Fig. 5, and Fig. 8, a fragmentary topplan View of still another modification of the washer.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, and first more particularly toFigs. 1 to4 thereof,.1 represents a casing constituting the main oilreservoir, inwhich rests a cup seat 2, carrying a thrust block 3 havinga fiat or plane upper face 4, and a spherical lower face 5,'the latteradapted to fit the cup 2. Extending through the center of cup seat 2 andblock 3, and adapted to rotate therein, is a vertical shaft 6 whichcarries a thrust collar 7, fast thereon. This thrust collar has a fiator plane bearing face 8 on its lower side, and is cored out as at 9, forpurposes which will hereinafter more fully appear. If the lower face ofcollar 7, and the upper faceof block 3, constituted adjacent or engagingfriction surfaces, it would be extremely difficult to maintain a film oflubricant between them, owing to the fact that such faces-would maintaina uniform disbeen used for this purpose. tomatic lubrlcation, the formof my in-.

tance of separation,- orcontact equally, at all points. It is commonpractice in such cases to force a film of oil between such frictionsurfaces under great pressure supplied by external means This practice,however, in" addition to involving more or less expensive auxiliarymechanism, is open to the objection that if for any reason the pressureto force the lubricant between the friction surfaces should be evenImomentarily interrupted or diminished, such great friction is createdbetween the engaging surfaces that they almost immediately run hot andoften become destroyed before the trouble can be remedied. Efi'ortshave' been made to overcome this dificulty by providing means whereinthe pressure of the bearing itselfxis designed to effect the automaticflow of a film of oil between the friction surfaces.

My invention is also'designedto efiect the automatic lubrication Orenfriction surfaces, and it employs the pressure of. the bearing itself toeffect the same, but in a different way from other devices which have Ieffect this anventionshown in Figs. 1 to 4, by inserting between thethrust collar 7 and block 3, a

loose washer 10, comprising a plurality ofv facets or segments 11, heldbetween two rings 12 and 13, each by two webs 14' and 15, at oppositeends of the segments. This washer is preferably made of some soft highlead bronze such, for example, as Ajax bronze and is cast in oneintegral piece the.v

mold for the casting being'cored out to orm the above parts. The edgesof these .seg-

ments, which radiate from the center of rotation of the system, slant inopposite directions as at 16 and 17, preferably on a reverse curve, andone such slanting edge of each segment over-laps a slanting edge of anadjacent segment.

The webs 14 and 15 of each segment lie in a line radiating from thecenter of rotation, and this line coincides with the centrallongitudinal aXis'of such segment, but owing to the slanting edges, eachse cut will have a greater area of contact with collar 7 or block 3, onone side of the line connecting its webs than. on the other, and thesedistances are reversed on opposite sides of the segments. In otherwords, the bearing faces of the segments are off-set so that the centersof pressure are eccentric. I

The segments are all of uniform thickness,

but of greater thickness than the rings 12 and 13, so that the latternever contact with the bearing surfaces. y

The casing'l contains oil 18 maintained at or about the level indicatedabove the lower, or hearing face of collar ,7, said oil surrounding thesegmented washer, as

. shown, surrounding shaft 6.

An oil retaining collar 19 is fitted tightly in a, recess 20 in block 3,and extends above the oil-level into recess 9, while an oil duct 21extends from the outer surface of block 3, through the block to thespace between the oil retaining collar and-theinner ends of the washersegments.

Referring to Fig. 3, let it be assumed that the thrust collar 7 isrotating in the dire'c tion of the horizontal arrow, or clockwise.

lln such a case resultant pressures act on the individual segments inthe directions of the vertical arrows, causing, said segments to, rotatetoa limited extentabout their radial axes or their web pivots, thevwebs. yielding underthe torsional strainto permit such movement of thesegments. Such rotation inclines the upper and lowerfa'cesof thesegments-with respect to the faces of'the thrust collar'and block. Thisinclination'permits the moving surface to drawn in oil globules which,rolling along the inclined surfaces,

accumulate. a pressureequal' to the thrust.

In this way a-continuous film of oil is maintained between the bearingfaces of the washer and the bearing taces'of'the thrust, collar 7 andblock'3. @f course this inclinationof the segments is very slightas faras being-visibleto the nakedeye is concerned,

and for this reason isex'aggerated in Fig. 3. The segmental washer mayrotate about shaft 6 with the upper bearing member 17, alone, or withthe lower bearing memher 3, alone, or it may be rotatable relative toboth of these at the same time. lheretore, ifthe washer shouldstick toone of the bearing surfaces, it will still have another bearingsurfaceto float on. If it is desired to actually provide means for causing thewasher to rotate with one of these bearing members, this may be done byoneor more dowel pins 22connecting the parts as shown in Fig. -5.

means of screws 23 and 24, which take the place of the webs of the firstdescribed construction. Otherwise the segments are the same in bothcases.

In Fig. 8,1 have shown still another modification of myimproved washer,wherein the pivoting of the segments 11 between the ringsis efi'ectedmerely by swelling the ends of each segment out, as at 25 and 26,corresponding in position to the webs 14 and 15, or pivotalscrews 23 and24, the said segments engaging the rings 12 and 13 only at portions 25and 26. The frictional engugement between these portions 25 and 26 andthe rings 12 and 13 is suflicient to support the segments between therings. These segments are heldproperly spaced one from the other bymeans of loosely fitting dowel pins 27 and 28. These segments are inother respects the same as segments 11.

Various other modifications of my present invention may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit thereof.

What I claim is l. A'thrust bearing, comprising two relatively rotatablemembers, and an integral.

washer inserted between said members and .comprising a plurality ofsegments flexibly connected together to tilt between said members onradial axes.

washer inserted between said members andcomprising a lurality ofsegments having overlapping e ges separated by oil spaces,

and means to flexibly connect said segments together to permit the sameto rock on radial axes, to allow the oil from said spaces to enterbetween the bearing surface of said segments and the friction surface ofits adjacent bearing member.

in testimon whereof I afix my signature in presence 0 two witnesses.

WILLI E. MOORE. lVitnesses:

G. E. BEAM, L. C. Lame.

